It is an almost done deal- Declan Rice is leaving West Ham United to join Arsenal FC. According to multiple outlets, the English midfield maestro is now free to book his medical with his new club.
Once that’s done, it will then only be a matter of crossing the Ts, dotting the Is, and drying the link. When all is said and done, you’ll have a new “most expensive British player ever.”
? Declan Rice has been given permission to undergo a medical at Arsenal. [@talkSPORT] #afc pic.twitter.com/jpoTnTwldY
— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) June 28, 2023
He is also the Gunners’ second signing of the summer, behind Kai Havertz. Rice will move over on a deal worth £105 million, and that shatters the Arsenal club record for a transfer fee. The current, about to be broken record is the £72 million they paid Lille for Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
Additionally, sign Declan Rice becomes just the second British footballer to ever reach the 100 million GBP mark.
That’s how much Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in 2021, a record for a English footballer that stood until now. Notable is how Manchester City also had submitted a bid for Declan Rice here.
Chelsea (the childhood/academy club of Rice), Manchester United and Bayern Munich had also been linked to the Hammers Captain. He now slots in well at Arsenal, as he is the kind of midfielder who is perfectly suited to run Mikel Arteta’s system.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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